Wiltshire Council shares information on local help available during Children's Mental Health Week
Wiltshire Council is highlighting the range of mental health support available for children and young people locally and nationally.
The COVID-19 pandemic, national lockdowns and concerns about exams have all increased anxiety and had a negative impact on the mental health of many children in the UK.
Wiltshire Council is supporting Place2Be#'s Children's Mental Health Week (opens new window) which takes place from 1 to 7 February 2021 and seeks to raise awareness of children's mental health and the support services and resources available locally.
According to Place2Be (opens new window), one in six school-aged children in the UK has a diagnosable mental disorder, an increase from one in nine in 2017.
Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills said: "Children and young people are faced with challenges growing up normally but growing up during a pandemic puts us all in an unprecedented situation.
"Effective support from an early stage not only helps children and young people cope with challenging life circumstances but can also prevent problems from escalating and becoming more serious in adolescence and adulthood.
"Locally we worked with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Barnardo's Healthy Minds Wiltshire to develop On your mind: Wiltshire Children and Young People Emotional Wellbeing Service (opens new window), a website which provides free, safe online support for young people, with links to support from other local and national organisations. There is also a new advice page (opens new window) for Wiltshire parents and carers which includes practical strategies to support children with their mental health and wellbeing and there is more support on the Oxford Health (opens new window) website on child mental health."
Wiltshire Council is also working with the West of England Academic Health Science Network to develop MiHUB (opens new window) which uses virtual reality to help young people explore their emotions. Royal Wootton Bassett Academy (opens new window) was selected as the pilot school and participating pupils were involved in the co-creation of the programme alongside the technology developers.
Further information
Place2Be launched the first ever Children's Mental Health Week in 2015 to shine a spotlight on the importance of children and young people's mental health. This year's theme, Express Yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.
For Children's Mental Health Week 2021 they are encouraging children (and adults) to explore the different ways we can express ourselves, and the creative ways that we can share our feelings, our thoughts and our ideas.
Place2Be events during Children's Mental Health Week 2021:
- Virtual Assembly, all schools and families at 9am on Monday 1 February
Children's Mental Health Week assembly - with BAFTA Kids and Oak National Academy - Children's Mental Health Week 2021 (opens new window) - Online Conference, Creativity as ailing tool: Connecting mind, body and imagination 2-4.45pm Friday 5 February
Creativity as a healing tool: Connecting mind, body & imagination - conference (opens new window)
Place2Be (opens new window) is a children's mental health charity that provides counselling and mental health support and training in UK schools, using tried and tested methods backed by research.
Mental Health Home: Wiltshire Healthy Schools (opens new window)
A summary of local and national support available to support Wiltshire schools support emotional wellbeing and good mental health in the school setting.
Sources of free national teaching materials (opens new window) online
MiHUB - using virtual reality to help young people explore their emotions
The MiHUB project is part of the West of England Academic Health Science Network's Future Challenges' and focuses on Young People's and Mental Health Resilience.
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